This invention relates to an evacuated foam insulation panel containing a getter material.
To significantly improve the performance of insulating systems, vacuum or evacuated panel technology is currently being evaluated by industry. The absence of air or gas in panels affords the possibility of substantial enhancement of insulating performance.
A useful evacuated insulation system is one employing a panel corestock of an open-cell foam. The open-cell structure of the foam allows rapid and substantially complete withdrawal of gases from within the foam structure and the panel. The rigid foam matrix provides a corestock of substantial mechanical strength and performance.
Though evacuated insulation panels are hermetically sealed, gases and vapors such as air and water vapor will seep or permeate into the evacuated interior of the panel over a long period of time. The presence of gases or vapors in the evacuated interior of the insulation panel denudes the insulation capability of the panel.
It would be desirable to have an evacuated insulation panel employing a corestock of open-cell foam wherein the insulation panel has the capability of absorbing seeping gases and vapors over an extended period of time, such as twenty or thirty years. It would be particularly desirable to such an evacuated insulation panel employing an open-cell foam of an alkenyl aromatic polymer.